Boo Boo was stolen from a home in Vernon on Saturday, leaving owner Tamara Daley in shock and disbelief. But, thanks to social media, Daley and her dog, Boo Boo, will be reunited in no time.
“He is like my child,” owner Daley said about the three-year-old Bully dog. “Who just steals a dog?” she asked.
Around 10:30 a.m., Saturday, Daley’s stepfather put the dog outside of the home on 25th Street in Vernon momentarily, while he grabbed a jacket and a leash. But within five minutes, the dog was snatched off the lead line and taken away by a person wearing a grey sweater and black vest.
Daley took to Facebook and shared video footage captured from security cameras around the home.
“He is very attached to my father in-law who is battling cancer, so this is very devastating,” Daley wrote, alongside a photograph of the sleeping dog.
That post was shared more than 11,000 times. The town was on the lookout for Boo Boo.
Daley received reports of sightings in the Village Green Hotel and Daley said a Facebook contact reached out to offer the services of his scent-sniffing dog. Daley said the dog “responded on a room” in the hotel, indicating Boo Boo was there.
“They went from the Village Green to Blue River and he was sold there in a diner,” Daley said. Blue River is about four hours north of Vernon.
The dog was sold in Tony’s Grill, but staff thought something was fishy and turned to the web to investigate. They found Daley’s post and immediately called her to alert her of the dog’s location.
The woman who sold the dog, Daley was told, informed the buyer the dog was rescued from the BC SPCA. But the fact Boo Boo isn’t neutered was a red flag, prompting the search online.
Boo Boo is now with the RCMP in the detachment in Grande Cache, Alta., more than eight hours away from home. The diner also reported the make, model and licence plate number of the vehicle associated with the sale to the RCMP, Daley said.
“Without social media, he probably wouldn’t be coming home,” Daley said.
This isn’t the first time people have shown interested in the young pup, Daley explained.
“We’ve had people come up to us and offer an outrageous amount of money for him, but of course we said ‘no,'” she said. “But I never thought he’d get stolen.”
She said she will have a much tighter leash on Boo Boo from now on.
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